


Hell or High Water

by Elfy (elfowlgirl)



Series: Domestic Demon AU [2]
Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Demons, Friendship, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 06:06:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6041035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfowlgirl/pseuds/Elfy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lost, alone, abandoned - none of these things are quite true. Domestic demon AU. (originally posted to Tumblr on February 4, 2016)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hell or High Water

Her head is groggy, heavy, spinning. Her mind is blank and foggy, the world existing only in darkness. Slowly, she recounts to herself what little she remembers, filling in the blanks like the broken pieces of a puzzle.

_I am Aesling._

Her eyelids flicker, heavy from the weight of exhaustion. She moves to rub the sleep away, only for them to sharply blink open as she cannot move her hand.

The light is blinding, flooding the entire space before her.

“Hello.”

Sharp amber eyes are locked on hers, cryptic smile on the woman’s face as she watches from mere inches away. “So you return to the realm of the living,” she comments idly. “Not for long, I’m sure.”

The brunette turns sharply on her heel, and Ashe finally takes in the world surrounding her.

The “room” seems like a mountain, with the top chopped off and insides scooped out. Great pillars of rock stretching up to the open blue sky, sun shining brightly overhead and filling the entire space with calming light.

The woman is in the direct center of the space, crouched on a raised platform about an inch or so above the ground. She inspects it with careful ease, as she traces along it with chalk gripped in one hand. The woman’s concentration is so easily lost to her task that she doesn’t turn when the figure standing beside her steps aside, and Ashe comes to recognize him with a white-hot flash of pain.

Blond hair spilling down his back, a pair of - surprisingly short - horns resting on his forehead, pointed tail flicking idly back and forth behind him. Ashe remains expectant, for him to come to her rescue, talk her out of whatever this is, or even fucking _acknowledge_ her; and yet he remains there, watching the brunette woman, as though she is the only thing that matters.

Her eyes are drawn to his tattoos, seeming more clear now in this moment of distraction than they had been in the past for all its lucidity. They trail up his arms, tracing their way along his collarbone and across his neck. Some small, some big, scrawled in symbols and drawings with no text to speak of. Small gaps dotted between them, the largest opening by far resting on his right shoulder.

He glances back at her suddenly, only ever so briefly, and yet she knows their gazes have met. His head turns to the woman, waiting and watching, before he turns and quietly strolls over to stand before her.

“Aesling.” Markus’ tone is low, eyes burning bright as ever, yet still somehow cold. A familiar chill runs down her spine.

“Markus.” She can barely manage the word, throat sore and hoarse for a reason she cannot place. “Is this what it’s come to?”

“‘Watch out for her’,” Markus mutters, pointedly avoiding her gaze. “You had to know this wouldn’t last forever.”

“What would it take,” Ashe looks down, getting her first look at the ropes wrapped hard around her wrists and ankles, “to have things go back to how they were? To get me out of here in one piece, and to stop whatever it is she wants me for.”

“It’s a big demand.” He gives a toothless smile, and at the same time seems solemn. “But maybe I’ll finally be able to answer all your questions.”

Ashe looks up, locking eyes with the blond. Sadness lingers behind her gaze for half an instant before fire replaces it. She takes a deep breath. “Considering the alternative… sure.”

“In exchange for protection, friendship, and compliance, I get your soul?”

She nods, and then, ever so quietly: “ _Yes._ ”

Markus grins brightly now, usual fangs giving way to daggers. Black covers the whites of his eyes for a long moment. “Normally we’d shake hands, but this’ll have to do.”

Beneath his shirt - sleeveless, for once - the inkless spot on his shoulder seems to almost make room of its own accord as something blossoms there; a winding tree, branches and roots and leaves sprouting forth as though it was truly alive. With a flicker of silver, a sword finds its way through the base of the trunk.

The sinking feeling in her stomach seems to multiply tenfold, until it settles there like a raging bonfire. At once the tightness around her wrists and ankles falls away - she doesn’t realize the support they’ve been lending her until she almost immediately falls flat on her face.

Markus grabs her by the shoulders, studying her face as he keeps her steady.  “Gonna move you first. I called Kyr, so I expect Thog at least will be coming with.”

“You predicted this?” Ashe blinks wearily. “Does Kyr even have Thog’s number…?”

His gaze locks with her once more, but this time the blue in his eyes is calm, warm, and open. “I have to keep one step ahead of the pact, don’t I? Considering your alternatives, like you said. And your contract overrides the little _she_ promised me.”

Markus moves outside Ashe’s view and, at once, lifts her - despite his twig-like build, he does so with ease. “Stronger than you look,” she mumbles, head spinning with even the gentlest of movement. “And… override?”

“We all have our choices,” is all Markus says at first. He considers it for a moment, then adds, “Her payment came later, so I can choose to ignore or replace it at loss of payment. A contract isn’t _bound_ , per say, until at least one side has kept up their end. Inien’s a cheapskate, anyway.”

_Inien._ The name echoes, memories of a time long past flickering quickly through her mind. _The one who sent Markus to watch out for me in the first place. Out to do… something._

“Oh.” All things considered, Ashe feels both grateful and helpless. Somewhere within she knows she’s going to regret her deal when this is all over - but what other choice was there? She was damned regardless; all that this changed was the context. She can see Thog’s expression already, when he finds out. And he _will_ find out.

Distaste, disgust, dismay… Her eyes narrow into a scowl, and lets her train of thought continue on.

All she’d watched and studied, all the notes she made, all the uncertainty she held - lying in wait as unasked questions on her tongue - flickers through her mind. She knows she’ll get answers later.

_There’s a bigger problem right now._

Namely, the woman from before, who is now watching the two with that everlasting, sickening smile.

Markus lets her down in the corner of the room, a small stone jut from the wall acting as a makeshift chair. She settles against it as he steps away, expression pure uncertainty.

At the least, Ashe can manage a single question, before whatever it is goes down. “So, what _is_ your favorite type of cake?”

Markus glances to her, and laughs. He grins daggers at her again. Somehow, this time, it’s reassuring. “Devil’s food cake, of course.” The demon looks back at the woman, and his eyes narrow. “It’s just as decadent as I am.”

Inien turns her head aside, and, in a devil-may-care kind of way, snaps her fingers. At once someone new stands beside her, having emerged from the shadows, half-crouched and clearly ready for whatever command she deigns to give.

Ruffled dark brown hair, nearly covering a single, piercing golden eye. A long scar winding its way along his face and over his neck. A purple jacket covers his chest, tattoos like Markus’ stretching beneath it.

Sharp, round horns curl back, a spiked tail resting behind him, the strangest tint to his skin. When he looks at her, there’s a lost look in his gaze. Distant, empty, and thoroughly unnerving.

“You did your job, _Velafi_.” Markus’ eye twitches ever so slightly at the woman’s words. “But I can’t say I wasn’t expecting this from someone like _you_. Meet your replacement. Let’s see if one truly _can_ kill a demon.”

“And here you are, with no crosses or holy water to speak of.” His smile widens. “Not that it’d work to begin with.”

Inien scowls and snaps her fingers once more. The man beside her takes a single step forward, and then all at once seems to be on top of Ashe.

It’s when the other demon shoots forward with teeth bared and claws sharp, when Markus dives before her and takes the first blow, when the tattoo that is her lights up on his shoulder, that the true pain begins.

The burning feeling that had filled her chest before was nothing compared to this. A cold so strong it bit, a hollow feeling growing ever more present in the bottom of her stomach, a creeping sensation of darkness and light entwined so heavily that neither register existence anymore.

It was a summer daydream in a winter blizzard, memories of gardening and astronomy and campfires against a frost that envelops her, bit by bit, until she could barely remember there had been anything else to begin with -

Then there’s someone around her, supporting her, a sharp jolt from the mystifying to the reality.

“Ashe? _Ashe!_ ”

Her eyes fly open, not even realizing they had been closed in the first place. Thog, Kyr, and Gregor are all crowded around her, worry plain on their faces. “Oh,” she mumbles, shaking her head some to free the newly-added cobwebs. “Hi. When did you guys get here?”

Each member of the trio visibly relaxes.

“A couple minutes ago,” Kyr reassures her. “You were spaced out a bit, though.”

“I’ll just have to find another with your sort of… _peculiarity_ ,” the woman announces, apparently ignorant to the two demons now engaged in combat and the newcomers. “Should this not work, of course. It’s so hard to find a good blood sacrifice these days.”

Wisps of flame and shadow dance along Markus’ palms as his opponent swings at him with wild abandon. Even with magic on his side, each of his own blows seems to leave less and less impact, and he strains to dig his claws - appearing with shocking regularity before flickering away of their own accord - into the other demon’s skin.

Ashe tears her eyes away as a burst of magic shakes the ground, and looks at Kyr. “What did Markus tell you? What are we supposed to do?”

“That we can’t fight Inien, because getting blood on her circle will activate it.” He looks somewhat nervous. “And otherwise to just get you out of here.”

“A brilliant plan.”

The ground smokes, remnants of his spells leaving it burnt and tattered. Markus was doing no better than he had when the fight first began, hard as he tried. He dives forward, only to be countered when a sudden sharp punch strikes him so hard in the chin that he’s thrown onto his back with an accompanying _snap!_

Markus grins, rubbing his hand along his neck as he looks up at his foe, rolling aside to avoid the next blow as it cracks the stone. “Don’t worry about me, Ashe. I can’t lose.”

“Somehow that’s not reassuring,” she calls, and Thog looks between the two with narrowed eyes and mouth pressed into a line. “What’s to keep her from trying this again? Or summoning another demon to attack us?”

“She only has so much to trade,” Kyr remarks, almost offhandedly.

“Even so…” Ashe turns to Thog. “Do you have it with you?”

Thog rolls his eyes, and yet reaches for his belt, drawing back with a pistol gripped tightly in one hand. “It doesn’t have silver bullets, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No, shoot _Inien_ , Thog.” She holds one hand to her head. “And warn me before you do it, I’ve got enough of a headache already.”

“What kind of a name is Thog, anyway?” Kyr asks.

“What kind of a name is Inien?” he replies as he fiddles with it.

“It’s not.” The woman’s smile, by now, is humorless. The wind tugs gently at her hair, shadow imposing as it begins to stretch along the cavern’s floor. “What do I mean, you wonder? I traded it, of course. A name is power and it can be used against you. What real use is a name?”

“Identity,” Ashe mumbles the instant before a sharp _bang!_ rings through her head, smoke trailing from Thog’s gun. She winces and covers her ears, while Inien moves aside at the last moment.

“And if that’s not enough incentive,” Gregor waves his cellphone in one hand. “I just called the police. They should be here in ten minutes.”

Inien’s gaze is smoldering if not burning, and she turns her head to the dueling demons. Markus’ shirt is half torn to shreds, glasses knocked askew - not that Ashe had noticed him wearing them in the first place - and thin scratches running along his arms. Slowly but surely they each seem to be fading, only to be replaced by scars that vanish with the same frequency.

The other demon, save for equal damage to his clothes and significantly disheveled hair, seems no worse for wear, teeth still bared and single eye locked on Markus.

“ _Athos._ ” The demon’s head turns sharply to look at the brunette, and for an instant it seems as though cuffs of energy flicker around his arms and legs, chains spilling away into the distance before the entire spectacle fades. “We’re leaving. As much as I don’t want to, I certainly can’t afford to get caught.”

She stares long and hard at Ashe, and for once her smile is gone. “I’ll just have to find _another_ like you. I’ll be sure to stop by when I do.”

Inien snaps her fingers and both she and her demon companion disappear in a flash of brilliant purple light. The chalk along the floor is gone, as if washed away by a fresh rain.

“We should all get out of here before the police arrive,” Ashe mumbles and tries to stand, only to nearly fall over. Gregor supports one shoulder, and Kyr the other.

“The police aren’t coming. I bluffed.” Gregor beams, and after a brief moment of surprise, Ashe laughs.

“Always the hero, Gregor.” His smile widens and he laughs, too.

Markus slowly clambers to his feet, shaking his hair out some and dusting himself off. “That went about as well as I expected.”

“Did it now?”

“Yep.” He strolls over, replacing Kyr on her right side. “And it’ll be pretty hard to find someone else like you. If we do see Inien again, it won’t be for a while.”

“Hm.” She stares at him, unusually silent. “Do… do you think this’ll work?”

“So long as I can go off and do my own work occasionally, our arrangement should be fine.” He smiles.

A hollow silence follows.

“Markus, I have to ask…” Ashe tilts her head, eyes never leaving his. “You’re a demon. Why is it that you’re so - so nice?”

“Nice?” He tilts his own head, mirroring hers. “I wouldn’t say that. I’d just say I’m… more human.”

“More human,” she echoes with a raised eyebrow. Finally, she smiles back. “If that’s what you’d rather hear, sure.”

He throws one arm around her shoulder. “And you’re stuck with me for life, there, Ashe. You sure you can handle my devilish charm for that long?”

She rolls her eyes. “I don’t have much of a choice by now, do I?”

“Oh, they catch on so fast.” At Thog’s unwavering scowl, Markus turns his head, lazily, to look at him. “Don’t give me that, makeshift. Like _you_ were any help when she was kidnapped.”

Thog’s voice drops to a whisper, so low Ashe can almost - but not quite - make it out. “There’s only so much I could do to keep out a demon. Just be glad _you_ didn’t cause it.”

“The salt would’ve worked for an _imp_ , maybe.” He smirks.

“Yes, yes, Markus is a literal demon, we’re all well aware,” Ashe interjects with a wave of her hand, apparently uncaring to the discussion at hand. “Stop fighting, at least until I can get some damn sleep.”

“The ‘damn’ is literal in this case, now,” Markus continues, but is silenced with her sharp glare.

“Let’s just go home, guys.” She yawns, and puts one arm around Gregor’s shoulder. “It’s been a long day.”

The sun, off in the distance, slowly tucks down behind the horizon. Stars begin to dot their way across the fading blue sky.

Ashe studies it for a moment and realizes that, despite it all, somehow she feels no regrets.


End file.
